Incremental printing of symbolic information – Thermal marking apparatus or processes – Ink cassette or cartridge
Reexamination Certificate
2002-10-09
2003-11-18
Tran, Huan (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Thermal marking apparatus or processes
Ink cassette or cartridge
Reexamination Certificate
active
06650351
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink ribbon cassette and a thermal transfer printer using the same, and more specifically, to an ink ribbon cassette being capable of feeding and discharging recording papers printed over the entire page properly, and a thermal transfer printer using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in
FIG. 11
, a thermal transfer printer
100
in the related art includes a hollow box-shaped frame
101
.
The frame
101
includes a side plate member
101
a
provided on the near side, a side plate member
101
b
provided on the far side opposed to the side plate member
101
a,
a top plate
101
c
provided on top, and a bottom plate
101
d
provided at the bottom.
A cassette mounting portion
102
for mounting an ink ribbon cassette
110
that will be described later is arranged in the hollow portion of the frame
101
, and a cassette insertion slot
102
a
is formed on the side plate member
101
a
so as to continue into the cassette mounting portion
102
.
Disposed between the side plate members
101
a,
101
b
of the frame
101
is a rotatable platen roller
104
.
At the position opposed to the platen roller
104
, there is provided a thermal head
106
, which is attached on the head mounting base
107
.
The head mounting base
107
is formed into substantially rectangular shape in plan view, and mounted on one of the side plate member
101
b
in a cantilevered manner.
A wall member
113
is disposed in the frame
101
on the left end side, and the wall member
113
is formed with a paper feeding and discharging port
110
a
in communication with the cassette mounting portion
102
.
The frame
101
is provided with a paper feed roller
111
in the vicinity of the platen roller
104
, and a pressure contact roller
112
being capable of establishing pressure contact with the paper feed roller
111
, and being capable of rotating with the paper feed roller
111
, so as to be pressure contact therewith.
As shown in FIG.
12
and
FIG. 13
, the ink ribbon cassette
110
to be attached on and detached from the thermal transfer printer
100
in the related art integrates a cassette body
115
having a substantially elliptical hollow portion for storing an ink ribbon
114
, and a ribbon guide member
118
extending from the cassette body
115
on one side.
The cassette body
115
includes a feed core
116
and winding core
117
on which both ends of the ink ribbon
114
are wound stored therein.
As shown in
FIG. 12
, the cassette body
115
is formed with a slit-shaped ribbon outlet port
115
c
for allowing the ink ribbon
114
wound on the feed core
116
to be drawn out from the cassette body
115
.
A triangular paper guide member
115
e
is disposed in the vicinity of the ribbon outlet port
115
c
so as to project from the cassette body
115
in the direction in which the ink ribbon
114
is drawn.
The paper guide members
115
e
are respectively formed at the positions near the widthwise ends of the ink ribbon
114
drawn out from the ribbon outlet port
115
c.
As shown in
FIG. 14
, a ribbon sliding wall
118
a
connecting a pair of sidewalls
115
a
of the cassette body
115
are formed under the ribbon guide member
118
.
The upper portion of the ribbon sliding wall
118
a
is formed with a ribbon running groove
118
b
of a prescribed clearance.
The ribbon guide member
118
is formed with a ribbon turning-back portion
118
c
at the right end in
FIG. 12
, and a rotatable roller is disposed at this ribbon turning-back portion
118
c.
A head mounting base
107
cantilevered by the side plate member
101
b
of the frame
101
may be inserted between the ink ribbon
114
drawn out from the ribbon outlet port
115
c
and the ribbon sliding wall
118
a.
As shown in
FIG. 14
, when the ink ribbon cassette
110
is mounted on the cassette mounting portion
102
, a clearance
120
is defined between a bottom surface
115
d
of the cassette body
115
and the bottom plate
110
d
of the frame
101
, and the clearance
120
continues to the paper feeding and discharging port
110
a,
so that the recording paper
20
to be fed or discharged by the paper feed roller
111
may be carried through the clearance
120
laterally of FIG.
14
.
As shown in
FIG. 12
, the ink ribbon
114
may be drawn out once through the ribbon outlet port
115
c
by the rotation of the winding core
117
in the direction indicated by the arrow E in
FIG. 12
, passed through under a head insertion portion in the direction indicated by the arrow G, and turned back at the ribbon turning-back portion
118
c.
From this state, the ink ribbon
114
may be traveled over the ribbon sliding wall
118
a
of the ribbon guide member
118
, drawn into the cassette body
115
again from the ribbon running groove
118
b,
and then wound on the winding core
117
.
As shown in
FIG. 16
, the recording paper
20
is generally formed of a cut sheet of prescribed dimensions having a leading edge
20
a
and a trailing edge
20
b,
and is formed with a printing area (print-recording surface)
20
c
at the central wide range, and non-printing areas
20
d,
20
d
at the positions out of the printing area
20
c
near the widthwise ends thereof. The boundary between the leading edge
20
a
and the printing area
20
c
agree with a print starting position
20
s
on the recording paper
20
.
When an image is recorded on the recording paper
20
by the thermal transfer printer
100
, a desired image is recorded within the printing area
20
c.
When printing the image by full-page printing mode (rimless printing mode) on the recording paper
20
, the non-printing areas
20
d,
20
d
are also included within the printing area.
Referring now to FIG.
14
through
FIG. 16
, the print-recording operation by the ink ribbon cassette
110
mounted on the thermal transfer printer
100
in the related art will be described.
When the ink ribbon cassette
110
is mounted on the cassette mounting portion
102
, the ink ribbon
114
drawn out from the ribbon outlet port
115
c
takes the position between the thermal head
106
and the platen roller
104
.
The recording paper
20
inserted from the paper feeding and discharging port
110
a
is carried toward the ribbon turning-back portion
118
c,
and then the platen roller
104
raised toward the thermal head
106
resiliently compresses the thermal head
106
together with the ink ribbon
114
. Then a plurality of heating elements selectively heated on the thermal head
106
transfer melted ink on the recording paper
20
to perform a desired printing.
When the desired printing is terminated, the platen roller
104
is lowered to move away from the thermal head
106
, and the recording paper
20
is carried outward by the rotation of the paper feed roller
111
and the pressure contact roller
112
.
Subsequently, when printing a color image on the recording paper
20
, the ink ribbon cassette
110
containing an ink ribbon
114
on which different colors of ink, such as magenta, cyan, yellow, and so on are formed in sequence is used. Then the platen roller
104
is moved up and down repeatedly, and the paper feed roller
111
is repeatedly rotated forwardly and inversely (reversely) for allowing reciprocating motion of the recording paper
20
, so that the colors such as magenta, cyan, and yellow are printed superimposingly in sequence at a prescribed position on the recording paper
20
to print a desired color image.
Therefore, the recording paper
20
printed with ink in one color is positioned in such a manner that the trailing edge
20
b
of the recording paper
20
is located between the paper feed roller
111
and the pressure contact roller
112
. In this state, the paper feed roller
111
stops rotation (forward rotation) once, then, in order to carry the recording paper
20
in the reverse direction (the direction indicated by the arrow k in FIG.
14
), the direction of rotation of the paper feed roller
111
is inversed (reversed) to allow the print starting position
20
s
of the recordi
Kudo Toshinori
Yamamoto Toshiyuki
Alps Electric Co. ,Ltd.
Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione
Tran Huan
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